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Saturday, 24 November 2012

Bee Cause

The bee campaign will slow down over the winter, but we are hoping to plant a wildflower meadow in Sheffield sometime in the spring of 2013. If you would to get involved then please get in touch with our co-ordinator. John's article he wrote for Friends of the Earth is featured below:

Sheffield Buzzed into Action for the Bees

Coffee: where would we be without it? However, if we do not
save the declining bee population, coffee will become a luxury item. With this
in mind, coffee fans from Sheffield Friends of the Earth went on a mission with
local council members and members of the public to show what they can do to
help stop the decreasing number of bees.

It all started back in July. Sheffield, which normally is
buzzing with bees and life, started to feel quiet without the sound of bees. We
scouted round the city centre and local beauty spots to find the best and worse
areas to show the people on the walk. After a few weeks we had the route
planned, from the flowering Devonshire Green to Sunnybank Nature Reserve to a
tired block of flats that could do with a bit of colour.

We contacted our councillors and we had confirmations from
two of them, Jillian Creasy and Sylvia Anginotti. And with that, we were ready
to roll on the day of action. It was then that we started advertising to the
public, using the green party newsletter, Friends of the Earth event page and
BBC ‘Things to Do’ site.

As the day drew nearer, the local paper published our press
release the day before, and we were ready to take everyone on the walk. When the
day came, the sun was shining as the councillors and public arrived.

Overall, the walk was a major success. We took a picture of the
group handing a map that we had been creating all summer to the local
councillors showing where actions had been taken to protect bees across
Sheffield. After the walk, the councillors agreed that something needed could
be done, for example the planting of wildflowers, and the need to not remove of
hedgerows,